In the current 119th Congress, the Taiwan Connection is one of the largest cross-party connections on national issues in Congress, and we will continue to pay attention to the trends of new members of the current (120th) Congress.
▍Movements of pro-Taiwan members of Congress
After the U.S. midterm elections, generations of Congress have changed, and the impact on Taiwan will be analyzed. The Taiwanese congressmen who left Congress in swing states this time include: Texas Senator John Cornyn (lost to Ken Paxton in the primary runoff), Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan (not yet completely determined, but possible), Maine Senator Susan Collins, New York State Representative Mike Lawler, Pennsylvania Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, Virginia Republican Representative Rob Wittman (in January this year, he proposed the cross-party PORCUPINE bill to list Taiwan as a "NATO-plus" country to speed up arms sales), Arizona Representative Andy Biggs failed in the governor's race, and Wisconsin Republican Representative Tom Tiffany also failed in the governor's race. Iowa Senator Joni Ernst retired and left Congress. All of the above are Republicans.
Fortunately, Sherrod Brown and fellow state Rep. Marcy Kaptur both won. Andy Barr, a Taiwan-linked Republican from Kentucky who moved from the House of Representatives to the Senate, also successfully won a Senate seat. In addition, Republican Nebraska Senator Pete Ricketts, who actively promoted bills such as accelerating arms sales to Taiwan and deepening security cooperation between the United States, Europe and Taiwan, was also successfully re-elected. However, with many Taiwan Connection members leaving Congress or retiring, Taiwan still needs to actively engage with the new generation of Congress members to continue and expand cross-party support.
A total of three Taiwanese-American congressmen were elected this time: Richard Pan, a pediatrician and former California state senator, entered the federal Congress for the first time in California. A statement on the campaign website stated that if he enters Congress, he will be committed to strengthening the Taiwan-US partnership and maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. Ted Lieu (Liu Yunping), who was born in Taiwan, was re-elected as a member of the House of Representatives in California; Grace Meng (Meng Zhaowen), who was born in a Taiwanese immigrant family, was successfully re-elected as a member of the House of Representatives in New York State. Ted Lieu and Grace Meng are both Democratic members of the Congressional Taiwan Connection. Ted Lieu has multiple records of supporting Taiwan bills in Congress. During his visit to the United States during the visit of Legislative President Han Kuo-yu in June 2026, he publicly criticized the Trump administration for delaying arms sales to Taiwan and demanded that the arms sales case be allowed to proceed.
▍The diplomatic views of the new generation of progressives
Even among the new generation of progressives, there are some interesting contrasts. For example, Abdul El-Sayed advocates maintaining strategic ambiguity, but at the same time affirms that Taiwan's future should be determined democratically by the Taiwanese people. This is in contrast to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). Although the AOC advocates a foreign policy centered on human rights and emphasizes the importance of avoiding conflicts across the Taiwan Strait, when discussing this issue at the Munich Security Conference, it obviously failed to mention what substantive actions the United States can take to counter China's human rights violations or support Taiwan's right to self-determination.
This shows that politicians who do not fit the traditional profile of "Congressional Taiwan advocates," especially those who do not belong to neoconservative or neoliberal foreign policy circles, may still be willing to embrace Taiwan's self-determination even if their overall diplomatic views differ from their predecessors. At the same time, those who consider themselves progressive or advocate value-based diplomacy may not necessarily explicitly recognize Taiwan’s democratic subjectivity.
▍American political representatives are more diverse
This election also set many historical records and made American political representation more diverse. In Congress, Chris Pappas became the first openly gay senator in the United States, Peggy Flanagan became the first indigenous female senator, and Abdul El-Sayed became the first Muslim senator. In terms of governors, Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first African-American female governor, Deb Haaland became the first indigenous female governor, Gina Hinojosa became the first Latina female governor of Texas, Xavier Becerra became the first Latina governor of California in the past 151 years, and Marsha Blackburn became the first female governor of Tennessee. Breakthroughs for African-American candidates also spanned both parties, with Byron Donalds and David Crowley becoming the first African-American governors of Florida and Wisconsin respectively. In addition, Hakeem Jeffries is expected to become the first African-American Speaker of the House of Representatives in the United States.
▍Position on Taiwan and influence on Congressional agenda
Henry Tsai, deputy director of the policy and advocacy group of the Taiwanese Public Affairs Association, said, "It is true that Congress is changing generations, and many long-term Taiwan supporters are retiring or leaving office, but I don't think we can conclude that the new Congress will be less willing to pay for value-based pro-Taiwan arguments."
"First of all, we still don't know how the new Congress will view Taiwan. Several elected members have strongly supported Taiwan's democracy and self-determination in the past, and not just viewed Taiwan from the perspective of US-China strategic competition and national security. For example, Sherrod Brown, who is about to return to the Senate, is one of the co-founders of the Congressional Taiwan Connection and has also publicly supported the Sunflower Movement. Another one worth mentioning is Chris Pappas, who co-sponsored the Taiwan Representative Office Act in the House of Representatives Act) and will enter the Senate to replace Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee.”
Looking at the new generation of congressmen who have won the election, most of them are not yet familiar with international issues. Since most of the winners this time are seen as progressive in ideology, they emphasize diplomacy first and reduce military intervention on international issues; however, it can be observed in this election that there are also differences among the progressives. In other words, whether progressives will adopt more diversified diplomatic lines in the future remains a key point to observe.
In addition, the Democratic majority this time is high enough, which may weaken the bargaining power of the progressive wing of the party and give moderates more room to vote against it. For example, when the Democratic Party took back the House of Representatives in 2019, although the "Squad" in the party was very vocal, the agenda was still mainly dominated by the leadership and moderates. The counter-example is that from 2021 to 2022, the Democratic Party will only have a slight majority in the House of Representatives, so that progressives can tie the infrastructure bill to the social welfare bill to delay the vote on the infrastructure bill. Currently, there is a cross-party consensus between Taiwan and anti-China in the Congress, and it is beneficial to Taiwan to be led by professional members and moderates. The relevant agenda is also less likely to be slowed down by radicals within the party by bundling other cases.
▍How Taiwan is laid out
What Taiwan is most looking forward to passing as soon as possible is the long-awaited Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation (Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation), which has cross-party consensus. When the deliberations have a chance to proceed more smoothly, it may help the law find a suitable carrier or method of passage as soon as possible.
In the context of Congress, it is difficult for us to make a clear distinction between "value-based" and "security-based" arguments for support. Many members of Congress have historically viewed Taiwan's democracy and security as interdependent and mutually reinforcing, and believe that maintaining Taiwan's democracy itself is part of the U.S.'s national security interests.
Therefore, the real issue worthy of attention is not necessarily whether the new Congress will reduce its acceptance of "value", but how the new generation of pro-Taiwan lawmakers will reinterpret the importance of Taiwan's democracy and security and connect it with Taiwan's scientific and technological capabilities. In particular, issues such as chips, technology and AI will play an increasingly important role in shaping Taiwan's overall discourse. In the new round of generational changes and personnel reorganization in Congress, how to continue Taiwan's accumulated support base in the past and develop discourse and strategic niches that are in line with the current situation has become an important issue for Taiwan.
